I went in for my annual check-up and pap smear back in February and was given the usual directive from my gynecologist to schedule my annual mammogram. I thought about it, but put it on the back burner because I'm just too busy. March and April came and went and then it was summer, which meant that my three kids were out of school and I was faced with lots of juggling between their activities and my work. That annual mammogram receded to the very back corner of my mind, along with all of the other things I keep meaning to do.
Then I had a phone conversation two days ago with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. It turned out that while the "busy-ness" of life was sweeping me along, she had been fighting breast cancer. In her mid-thirties, it didn't occur to her to have a mammogram until her doctor suggested that she go have one done so that she'd have a baseline to refer to in the future. Shockingly, that seemingly harmless baseline mammogram, that she never would have had if her doctor hadn't just happened to recommend it, showed cancer. And it was invasive.
So while I was blowing off my mammogram, my friend was reeling from a double lumpectomy, radiation, and the world spinning off its axle.
I called the radiology lab shortly after our phone conversation and there just happened to be an opening today. So, instead of eating my usual turkey sandwich at my desk today and stressing over how "busy" I am, I spent my lunch hour having a mammogram in honor of my friend and thinking about how lucky I am to have access to a yearly mammogram.